Coaches Time Out

Week One in Spring-Ford High School sports is underway. A few weekend tournaments transpired, while the Boyertown Bears went down to both the boys and girls basketball teams. Wrestling sees its first dual meet today and indoor track competes in The Hill School Invite.

LRSC Patch and the winter coaches took a midweek break for its weekly Coaches Time Out.

Boys Basketball Has a Busy Week

The boys basketball team has seen and will continue to see lots of action in the first week and a half of play. Over the weekend, they played in the Suburban Challenge against Central Bucks West and Central Bucks South. They split the games 1-1.

"I think it was really good for us," said head coach Mike Young. "It was a new concept - something we hadn't really done before. I think it worked out well for us. Friday night gave us a chance to play a really good team on the road. They had a really good crowd there. We learned a lot about ourselves early on. We weren't really happy with how we played and some of the mental things going on there."

The next day, they were able to come home and see better results.

"We certainly turned it around the next night against CB South at home," Young said. "We did what we needed to do as far as turning some of the negatives around from Friday night to Saturday night. I think it was overall a really good experience for us. We played two good teams and came out with a win from it."

Then the boys played Boyertown at home on Tuesday night in an "emotional, highly-charged game" according to Young. They came out on top, 48-43.

"We got some good support last night," Young said. "We jumped out early, which was good to see. We played really good defense for a large majority of the game. We held them to 43 points. If we hold teams to 43 points, we'll have a lot of wins. That's what I was impressed with the most, was our defense. We hung in there and made enough plays to hold on to it."

Friday night, the boys play Methacton at home.

"Methacton is going to be a great game," said Young. "They were in the final four last year. They have some guys back. We saw them play against Owen J last night and they were really impressive. From what we were told that doesn't surprise me at all. They're really good inside and out, so it should be another great league game for us."

And finally, on Saturday, the Rams will be playing Octorara at Coatesville in the Mid-Atlantic Shootout. Octorara was crowned AAA District Champions in 2010-11.

"They haven't played all week," Young said. "They've been off since last weekend. So, they're sitting around, preparing for us, resting all week. That's going to be a big challenge for us, physically, playing Friday night against them being well-rested."

Girls Basketball Finds Revenge in Boyertown Win

Girls basketball is off to a 2-1 start after going 1-1 in the Hazelton Tournament over the weekend. The girls' only loss is to Cheltenham.

"They have a girl, CC Andrews. She's going to St. Joe's," head coach Jeff Rinehimer said. "We did some things that put her on the line a few too many times. She was 15/18 from the line, herself. They played a really good game. Coach said it was one of their best performances so far. They did a great job."

The girls two wins come to Hazelton and Boyertown. The Boyertown game proved to be a nice win for the girls, who lost to the Bears in the PAC-10 Championship last year. After a rocky first half that was plagued with foul trouble, the girls came out and dominated the second half, winning 56-41.

"I said to them, they're not going to quit," said Rinehimer. "Whether it's a one-point game or a 30-point game or a 100-point game, Boyertown is coming."

Leaders in both points and defensive efforts in the game were newcomer senior Jaida Burgess, and senior leader Sammy Stipa.

"[Jaida and Sammy] did what the team did," he continued. "They set the tone offensively and defensively and did whatever the team needs. That's what all the kids do."

The girls still have another game to go, facing off against Methacton on the road on Thursday night.

"Another team: Always come at you," Rinehimer said. "Craig Kaminski's been there a long time. Good athletes. They'll do another solid job out of the frying pan and into the fire."

The girls were slated to face Pope John Paul II High School on Saturday, but that game has been postponed. No reschedule date could be confirmed.

Wrestling Does Well in Southeast Classic

The wrestling team finished second out of 12 teams in the weekend's Southeast Classic. Wilson (Reading) placed first in the contest. Head coach Tim Seislove reported senior Chase Brown (112), junior Sean Hennessey (119) and senior Jimmy Shu (125) all placed first in the event.

The Rams face off in their first dual meet of the season tonight against Quakertown.

"Quakertown over the past 10-or-so years has been one of the better teams in District One," said Seislove. "They graduated a lot of kids over the last year or two. They're not quite as strong as they had been, but we're excited to go over there and wrestle."

On Saturday, Spring-Ford will head out to the Abington Duals to wrestle five matches.

"A lot of District One teams and a few teams outside of the district are there," Seislove said. "We're just trying to gauge where we're at and see what we need to get better at."

Swimming

Swimming did not have comment this week.

Winter Track Competes in First Meet Today

Winter Track heads on over to The Hill School for an invitational today. Head coach Danielle Stauffer said the meet should go from about 3:30 to 8 p.m.

"I think most of them are really excited," Stauffer said of her squad. "We've got a lot of young kids in some open and individual events to get some experience. More or less, it's a building meet. It's early in the season. We just want to get them in a longer workout. We'll get them into more of 'their events' as the season goes on."

Overall, Stauffer said she's looking for both boys and girls 4x4 teams to do well. Senior Joe O'Such will be running the mile, which he only ran twice in 2010-11.

"He state-qualified in cross country season," Stauffer said. "I'm kind of interested in seeing him on the mile. Last year he was more of a 400-800 runner, but he wants to focus a bit more on the mile this year. So, that's going to be interesting."

Stauffer also said the Rams will probably surprise some people with the throwing girls. She noted the long jump should be strong, both boys and girls. As always, the hurdles should be good.

"I want to see a good time out of Mikaila White in the hurdles," she continued.

The next meet on the schedule is the Christmas City Relays on Dec. 27 at Lehigh.

"I'm going to use this next week after the results of this week to reevaluate where we are and try to get a few more new kids in the lineup for the next meet," Stauffer said. "We've been having a really good week and we've been working hard."